In honor of this place that has indulged me for 35,000 posts

salin

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Sat Mar-18-06 02:35 PM
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In honor of this place that has indulged me for 35,000 posts

a walk down DU memory lane....

2002
Right after DU added the counter for registrations - the place got superficially attacked - and we got to watch DU go from 10,000 to 11,000 registered DUers - twice. There was a funny side story about an apparently infamous site defacer being blamed - who had to come and clear his/her name and blame another party... most of us had never heard of this network of folks and it was entertaining.

I recall long discussions about the Strikes in Venezuela days before the coup - and thus a vigil (so to speak) as the (staged) coup unfolded - including a DUer on the ground... probably the best discussion on the net during that time... including finding links to the State Dept for some figures involved in the quickly turned back coup. Like Chavez or not, it was a fascinating story to watch unfold and discuss as events unfolded before us quickly.

Birth of Enronomics and the phrase (Coined here at the DU, I believe) of "socialize the costs and privatize the profits."

2002 into 2003
Debunking of stories being pumped in the media to build a case for war - great collecting of international news sources that generally debunked the stories within 36 hours of their appearance in the US media - often the story briefly pumped in by the WH would silently be dropped and not used again.

Huge debates in the buildup to the war vote and later in the buildup to the war/invasion - per a "secret strategy" that the dems were allegedly in possession of that would avert the war by pulling bushco into some kind of political trap. That was a huge divide - not in terms of supporting an invasion (few that I can remember believed that) but in terms of perceived dem strategy, lack there of and huge frustration of all in the lack of ability to avert the disaster due to the reality of an emergent one-party rule in DC.

2003
Gore's reemergence at the Florida Dem Convention (and kick off to the governor's race) - full of fiery populist rhetoric - and a new fan base grew at DU - followed by disappointment (and accusations against the DLC) when he declared he was not running.

Beginning of primary 2004 season - bitter battles among DUers... and divergent voices that from different directions began to loudly question the war (though while some thought x or y by candidate D was war criticism and others read the same thing as apologia, thus there was little consensus as to what constituted real war criticism or not).

Interesting items (too late) posted from the LA Times about the groping history of Arnie as he ran for governor. And great frustration and dismay at the results of round one of the overreaching GOP power plays to begin happening across the country (next one was the redistricting stories in Texas outside of a census redistricting year.)

2004
Months of bitter primary wars on the DU - followed by a brief coming together under ABB to try to beat bushco.

More frustration as a growing awareness about election fraud antics from the subtle (funky going ons at polls) to the overt (repubs registering voters under nonpartisan cover and throwing away registrations of dems - reported in many states and oft associated with an Arizonan political operative.) Hope following frustration as much more public awareness of the potential perils of electronic voting and general vote fraud still resonates and gives more hope that a public paying attention just might be able to demand secure elections (prior to this, there had been a growing blind faith/apathy/assumption that our elections were secure)

Great discussions of the Odd debates - including, if memory serves me, bush trying to put off concerns that he would touch social security in one of the debates (ala "they are trying to scare seniors by saying....")

Huge disillusionment at the election results - and lingering questions for many about what happened in Ohio.

End of the year DU conversations discuss the odd over confidence of bushco as he (and his mouthpieces) start selling this "huge momentum of political capital" talk - even though the election was very, very close.

2005
Wow - is the collective amazement at the brazenness of bush when he opens the year with amnesia for his claims in the election per social security and opens with the salvo of how while others view social security as the third rail in politics - and that any politician who touches it risks ending their career... that he (oh powerful one) is going to take it on with his tremendous political capital. (Many DC gopers in congress begin to become apprehensive.)

Collectively DU watches in amazement as bush flies in the middle of the night to overstep his power to try to save Schaivo - while there were debates about the Schaivo situation here at DU, the recognition that the public was appalled at what follows - esp when the words of DeLay and a memo circulated by Sen Martinez show their real strategy/desire - to milk the right to life movement's power/support/money they were going to try to end the legality of living wills. More and more folks at DU were reporting conversations at home with increasingly apprehensive and/or disgusted repubs. Personally I think this combined with the SS debates is when the political/public sentiments began to shift.

Quick summary of the huge issues further shifting winds include the Downing Street Memos, the Plame hearings, the spectacle of Cindy at Crawford coupled with ongoing violence in Iraq coupled with the arrogant response by bush that the only way to honor the death of Sheehan's sons and others was... to keep fighting and have more folks die, Katrina and Rita responses, Abramoff and DeLay indictments, and more - but the year closes with a tremendous shift in political winds. Think about it - at the beginning of the year there was a belief that the margins in Congress (House) were far too high and the best that could be hoped for in the midterms were a smaller GOP majority in the House and a very, very long-shot at taking back the Senate... and by the end of the year discussions of the likelihood of Congress shifting hands are widespread, not just limited to progressive oases on the web.

2006
NSA spying, signing statements, Cunningham's plea bargain naming specific folks and bribe charges, and here at DU there is a fluctuation tone of hope and despair, hope and extreme frustration, but an underlying sense that bushco is over in terms of political future - but that there is a whole lot of damage still being wreaked by these folks and all we can do is work to finally end it (by taking over congress and forcing hearings) and more importantly end the one-party rule of the extreme rightwing religious, corporatist and militarist wings of the republican party.

Here is to you all - new comers, old timers and tweeners. It has been a ride - and will continue to be a ride. So glad to be able to share it with you!

:toast: